Vik Uppal
Tate Carlson
VIK UPPAL WAS IN A MEETING with former Twin [and Yankee and Cub] Ron Coomer—talking about a potential partnership on a baseball-centric concept that may or may not include Joe Mauer and/or Justin Morneau—when I first walked into ÕM, his new high-concept Indian restaurant, for our interview. While the moment proved lofty to me, I’m fairly certain it was standard fare for Uppal.
At the ripe old age of 26, Vik Uppal is an established restaurateur, an entrepreneur and an overall renaissance businessman, and he’s been at it for nearly a decade.
“When I was growing up, entrepreneurship was always around me,” says Uppal. “You know, my dad wasn’t the type of guy who would take me outside to throw a baseball, he would take me to a construction site, and so I learned all those sorts of things at a very young age. It really fueled something in me right off the bat. When I was in high school, I was getting very excited about some of these real estate ventures. It was just kind of destiny saying here’s this amazing platform for us to be able to do something in real estate that I felt very passionate about and my dad felt very passionate about, and he felt like it was a great opportunity to bring out the entrepreneurial gene that I had.”
When Uppal speaks it’s clear that he’s been down the path of self-description before. He rattled off the aforementioned statement with nary a breath nor thoughtful pause. However, it still managed to feel less like a frantic ramble than a poised, articulate dissertation—perhaps one of the biggest things that sets him apart from some of his slow-to-turn professional peers.
The president of Uppal Enterprises, a company he started with his father, Sohan, when he was still in high school, Vik Uppal is less the product of being fed with a silver spoon than of a household
that preached hard work and passion.
“One of the things that my parents instilled in me was that if you have passion and you believe in something, America can give you the ability to do anything,” Uppal says.
Sohan Uppal had been with Ohio-based Eaton Corporation for much of Vik Uppal’s youth, all the while investing in real estate, so it was no surprise when Vik took note. And, while he was still attending Bloomington Jefferson High School, Uppal Enterprises created an award winning concrete construction product, pulled together a $5 million real estate development in Shakopee and laid the groundwork for millions of dollars worth of developments. In a way, running the multimillion dollar company was Uppal’s varsity sport.
“Is money important? Of course, because that’s a big part of business,” says Uppal, getting at the root of what drove him then and still drives him today. “But there’s got to be something beyond money. There’s got to be another reason you’re doing it. Like a passion that you have and an ability to see things in a way that nobody else does. And that’s what ultimately fuels people in the long run. If you focus on the money, you’re focusing on something that’s wrong. You have to focus on the passion you have. You have to focus on the product. You have to focus on the need. You have to focus on the customer.”
VIK UPPAL
President of Uppal Enterprises
Age: 26
Education: BS, University of St. Thomas
First job: Burger King
Family: Single
